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TOM Hardy is giving fans a Mother's Day treat by returning to CBeebies to read more bedtime stories.The hunky actor left mums swooning with his previous storytelling efforts - and he is now confirmed to be back onscreen later this month.Tom, 39, has become a family favourite after making his CBeebies debut on New Year's Eve, and he returned to TV on Valentine's Day to set pulses racing with another story.BBC bosses have now revealed Tom will return for Mother's Day on March 26 and will be reading children's tale There’s A Bear On My Chair.Tom’s previous appearances proved a smash with excitable women who flooded Twitter with comments about the Hollywood hunk.One wrote: “I want Tom Hardy to read me a bedtime story every night,” while another added: “Yes I’m watching CBeebies bedtime story. No I don’t have children.”Another fan gushed: “It’s totally normal that I’ve tucked … [Read more...] about Tom Hardy set to give fans a Mother’s Day treat as he returns to CBeebies to read more bedtime stories

Germany already has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the EU and the country's jobless numbers have fallen again to record lows, according to official figures released on Friday morning by the German Federal Labor Agency (BfA). The unemployment rate for September fell to 5.5 percent from the 5.7 percent recorded in August, continuing the trend of record lows that have been achieved in recent years. The current rate is the lowest since German reunification in 1990. "The job market is continuing to see positive development," labor agency head Detlef Scheele said upon the release of the figures in Nuremberg. "Employment continues to grow and the demand of businesses for new workers increased strongly this month." Read more: Does Germany's 'upskill debate' help the unemployed? According to the figures, the number of unemployed people in Germany today stands at 2.449 million, almost 100,000 less than were recorded as jobless in August. Compared with this month last year, … [Read more...] about German jobless rate falls once more

Can someone please find a distraction for the American president? Dangle a shiny object in front of him? Maybe show him a funny YouTube video, or get him to give a rally speech in some small American town. Do anything to keep him busy in the US because when it comes to foreign policy and dealing with countries like North Korea or Iran, Donald Trump horrifies his partners, especially those in Europe. After years of laying down the groundwork, the negotiating partners struggled for yet another 20 months over the Iran nuclear deal. The European Union had a seat at the negotiation table and ended up scoring a success for the bloc. Ultimately, Europeans were able to use their favorite crisis-resolution skill: classic diplomacy. Ever since the Iran nuclear deal was concluded, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has checked eight times to see whether Iran has met the requirements. Every time, the answer was "Yes!" The results have been so convincing that German Chancellor Angela … [Read more...] about Opinion: The world needs more Europe and less Donald Trump

European foreign and defense officials will on Thursday discuss imposing the EU's own sanctions on North Korea, after the rogue state claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb — its largest nuclear weapons test yet — over the weekend. "Today we are facing a different level of threat that is clearly a threat to global peace and security," European Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini told reporters ahead of a meeting of ministers in the Estonian capital of Tallinn. "I will propose to ministers today to strengthen our economic pressure on North Korea." Read more: North Korea: From war to nuclear weapons Mogherini said the bloc should align itself with the latest UN Security Council resolution, but also impose its own series of sanctions against Pyongyang, which wouldn't require the backing of China and Russia. While she refused to go into details, a US-drafted resolution for further sanctions includes freezing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's assets and … [Read more...] about North Korea: EU mulling sanctions, South Korea, Japan coordinating more sanctions

"Matilda" is good at playing hide and seek. Nothing pointed to a premiere: no posters, no trailer, no program brochure. Instead, the calendar of events at St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theater announced a guest performance of the Estonian National Ballet. Nothing else. Barely known was the fact that on Monday, the famous theater was hosting an event of national significance, a premiere that had the whole country holding its breath for months. At the Mariinsky, on a different stage next to one where the contemporary Estonian troupe was performing, an entirely different ballerina danced, one who is historic, classic and controversial. Her name? Matilda — the main character of the eponymous film by Russian director Alexei Uchitel. Over 100 years ago, Matilda Kschessinskaya, the picture-perfect dancer of Polish origin, turned the head of Nicholas II, Russia's last czar. The affair almost cost him the throne — almost, because he remained steadfast … [Read more...] about ‘Matilda’ hits cinemas as Russia fears more violence

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Wednesday that the international community would need to give $434 million (€360 million) in humanitarian aid to help up to 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh over the next six months. The IOM has been coordinating aid agencies' response to the arrival of around 500,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled neighboring Myanmar since ethnic violence erupted there on August 25, joining around 300,000 who had already fled. Bangladesh's government has struggled to absorb the large influx. Many Rohingya face dire living conditions in the countryside or makeshift camps near the Myanmar border. An estimated 500,000 need food and 100,000 require emergency shelters. "Unless we support the efforts of the Bangladesh government to provide immediate aid to the half million people who have arrived over the past month, many of the most vulnerable — women, children and the elderly — will die," said IOM Director … [Read more...] about Rohingya crisis: Humanitarian agencies need more than $400 million for aid response

Nyoman Parwata, an official at the disaster migration agency's command post in Bali, said the number of evacuees on the Indonesian resort island has increased to 122,500, fearing Mount Agung will soon erupt. The evacuees are scattered in over 500 locations across the island, taking shelter in temporary camps, sports centers and public buildings. The exclusion zone around the volcano extends in some parts as far as 12 kilometers (7.5 miles), but officials said people farther from the mountain are leaving too. "They are afraid of being hit in case of an eruption," said Gede Sumartana, an official at an emergency post dealing with the displaced in Karangasem district. Read more: Why an eruption of Mount Agung is so dangerous Indonesian officials raised the alert status of Mount Agung to the highest level last week. The mountain, which sits about 70 kilometers northeast of Kuta, is among more than 120 active volcanoes in Indonesia. Vanuatu evacuates entire island In Vanuatu, … [Read more...] about More than 120,000 flee Bali, Vanuatu evacuates island as fears of volcano eruptions grow

Workers can spend anywhere from 5 minutes to 40 hours a week going through simple tasks on a smartphone, making AI all over the world more intelligent and efficient. By building platforms and crowd sourcing a large supply of workers, the companies that train AI were smart to realize the data needed could be processed by anyone with steady access to the internet. Read more: Will AI change the future of music? From this developed companies like Clickwork, Neurala, and Alegion Inc., which utilize "human taggers" to push AI education. With over a million "clickworkers" signed up, there's an estimated 100,000 people logged on at this very moment, sifting through droves of information and lending a human touch to robot training. "Staring at security cameras or an airport scanner, remote-controlling a robot, driving trucks up and down a mine did not exist as jobs until recently," says Massimiliano Versace, CEO of Neurala, "and will probably not exist as jobs occupying a full-time human as … [Read more...] about Teachers for AI — can robots create more jobs than they retire?

Environmental pollution is killing more people every year than smoking, hunger or natural disasters, according to a major study released in The Lancet medical journal on Thursday. One in every six premature deaths worldwide in 2015, could be attributed to diseases caused by toxins in air or water, the study says. Of the 9 million people killed prematurely by pollution, air pollution was the main cause of deaths, responsible for 6.5 million of the fatalities, followed by water pollution, which killed 1.8 million. Read more: Air pollution is 'top health hazard in Europe' The estimate of 9 million premature deaths, considered conservative by the authors, is one and a half times higher than the number of people killed by smoking, and three times the death toll from AIDS, turberculosis and malaria combined. It is also 15 times the number of people killed in war or other forms of violence. Ninety-two percent of pollution-related deaths occurred in low- or middle-income developing … [Read more...] about Pollution killing more people than war and violence, says report

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country would become more "moderate" and "open" on Tuesday and pledged to "eradicate" radical Islamist ideology from the Gulf kingdom. "We are returning to what we were before – a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions and to the world," the 32-year-old said at a major investment conference in Riyadh. "We will eradicate the remnants of extremism very soon ... We represent the moderate teachings and principles of Islam," the crown prince said. Read more: Saudi Arabia's Mohammad bin Salman: Reformer and hardliner Reform plans Bin Salman's time in power has witnessed greater efforts to liberalize Saudi Arabia's deeply conservative society. In September, the Saudi government issued a decree that overturned a previous ban on women driving. Some officials have hinted the government may soon permit long-banned cinemas. The young prince has also been the primary force driving "Vision 2030," an initiative … [Read more...] about Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledges more ‘moderate’ kingdom